1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing system for radiation image reproducing apparatus and, more particularly, to a data processing system for a radiation image reproducing apparatus which includes at least one exposing device for exposing a stimulable phosphor sheet to radiation transmitted through an object in order to store a latent image of the object in the sheet, a reading device for photoelectrically reading, afterwards, the latent image stored in the sheet by exposing the sheet to stimulating rays, and an image reproducing device for reproducing the image based on an electric signal which is read by the reading device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Image reproducing apparatus of the type described have been proposed as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,527. From the viewpoint of cost performance of the entire system, it is preferable that numerous stimulable phosphor sheets exposed by a number of remote exposing devices be managed concentratively in a single radiation image reproducing room or, as it will be referred to herein, an image processing room. The conventional identification data system, however, has not presented a solution to the problem of how to match the individual stimulable phosphor sheets with the information concerned with patients or like objects and exposures. To accomplish a high diagnostic performance, such an image reproducing system also requires that information on exposure conditions and information on image storage conditions in stimulable phosphor sheets, e.g. distributions of stored radiation amounts, be entered into an image processing computer of the system properly matched with the individual sheets.
Due to the low optical sensitivity of stimulable phosphor sheets, it is difficult to record identification data on such sheeets by an optical process heretofore employed by, for example, the radiation photographing system which utilzes silver salt photography. In light of this, if one intends to employ an image reproducing processing system as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,527 which uses sheets of stimulable phosphor in order to establish a centralized management of image reproducing processes, one could propose a system in which a serial number is assigned to each stimulable phosphor sheet and recorded on a slip together with object data particular to a patient, such as the name, date of birth and sex, and exposure data, such as the date and conditions of exposure and the exposed portion. Such slips are conveyed to an image processing room. In this room, when the image stored in each sheet is to be reproduced, the various data are manually entered into an image processing computer based on the slip associated with the sheet. This kind of system, however, consumes a significant amount of manual work and involves a great possibility of errors in manipulation because it has to concentratively manage numerous sheets which are often presented in various configurations.